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The secular church

If you haven’t visited Seth Adam Smith, I encourage you to do so. I was introduced to his blog by Larry Richman a while back. Seth puts together videos that are simply amazing – so current and applicable. Check out this video he did with a 1978 BYU address from Neal A. Maxwell interspersed with stills of the protests at the Los Angeles temple. Talk about a prophet who was inspired and saw the events of our day! Thank you Seth.

6 comments for “The secular church”

Hey, thanks for bringing this film clip to my attention. It was wonderful, and it was wonderful to hear Elder Maxwell’s voice again. He is one of my academic heroes. Also, thanks for the citation on your previous essay.As I have studied these issues, I am finding that I am losing sleep. I can see things from multiple perspectives (which I am inclined to do on all issues). But, I have felt it was important to seriously study the views given by our LDS leadership. I regret that lines of communication have broken down between the pro/con sides of Prop 8. There is much to be learned from both sides.My recent post on Timothy subtlely addresses some of the issues above.

Wow, that’s so funny. Why don’t we just throw out the establishment clause. A religious conviction is a second-class conviction? Um…this is really funny coming in the same year as blacks finally were allowed to have the priesthood. I think its funny that he has to use the “Secular” church because he can’t come up with something better. As for the ten commandments, why don’t you ban hinduism. The big problem is that this is all beliefs. There is no sanctuary for the atheist. He doesn’t get some first amendment clause. He doesn’t get to claim religious bigotry. Twisted to favor irreligion? BAH. If anything, it should be restored to actually being applied equally. Also funny in the sense that when I was at BYU I was told that all politics was morality by a general authority. Why do we watch what the “believers” are doing because they are trying to hide what they are doing from public opinion as shown by the recent church memos. If the church is so confident why doesn’t it stand out on its own? Why does it claim it’s being singled out when the response is proportional to the role played?

Have you seen the “Yes on 8 Petition” to the California Governor?http://familyleader.info/petitions/petition_5.phpProposition 8: Governor Schwarzenegger Respect the Voter’s WillIf you are a California citizen, please act immediately to sign this petition to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger who is urging the California Supreme Court to overthrow the results of the recent free and fair election which passed Proposition 8, defining marriage as between a man and a woman. His actions as governor in attempting to negate this vote are an insult to the voters of California and undermine the rule of law. We will deliver this letter with your signatures to his office as a means of saying that the voices of the voters should neither be disregarded, nor silenced.

MainTour, the governor doesn’t have anything to do with it. In fact, I wonder if you were so worried about executives talking about constitutions when it was uh, George Bush who was consistently reigned in by the Supreme Court. If you’re going to stand up for something, be consistent, or you’re the one who looks disrespectful.

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I’m a California native. I grew up in the San Gabriel Valley in the sixties with a brother and four sisters. I’m the youngest in my family. Dad worked in retail grocery stores and mother taught in local elementary schools there. I played drums in the band during my school years. I graduated from Covina High School in 1974 and received a vocational training certificate in computer programming the same year. I later earned an Associate degree from the California Community College system (Mt SAC) and began my career in computer programming, sales and support.

I have been working with computer technology for over thirty years. I started as a programmer on the larger computers and then embraced personal computers when they came out. I worked in retail computer sales, then software distribution and later became a certified network engineer. My specialty is Microsoft systems in the Small and Medium Business market. I am currently the IT Director for a private corporate jet management company located at the Burbank Bob Hope airport. With modern technology, I am able to do a large part of my job working from home.

I am married with one adult son. Until recently, I was very active in my local community church. I spent two years in Central America as a missionary. I enjoy reading, research, writing, correspondence and have a special interest in changing natural events. You can find me online every day on various internet communities and blogs, especially on religious blogs. I am a blogger and write about issues that confront Mormonism. My faith in Christ is a big influence in my life.

My philosophy of life is centered on the idea of divine revelation as a source of knowledge. Yet I am a rationalist in that I embrace reasoning as an important part of deciding truth. But I am also an empiricist because I believe the same steps I take to obtain knowledge can be followed by others and should produce the same or similar results. I am not a skeptic. I am convinced that true knowledge is not only possible but is our divine right. I am not an existentialist. I do not believe that truth is subjective. I am a pragmatist. I look for truth in shared human experience

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Tim is a computer technology professional providing desktop support, network administration and systems management in the Small and Medium Business market. He is currently the IT Director for a private corporate jet management company located at the Burbank Bob Hope airport. He began his career as a programmer but switched to tech support many years ago. Tim is married, has one adult son, and, until recently, was very active in his local community church. He spent two years in Central America as a missionary. He enjoys reading, research, writing, correspondence and has a special interest in alternative medicine. You can find him online every day on various internet communities and blogs, especially in the tech area. He maintains three blogs online, one on technology, one on current events and one on health research.

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